[amirmansour]

I would like to be a fly on the wall during the meeting where they decided to add the "carpet."

Maybe they are trying to protect our hands from the cold metal, or mitigate the damage of coffee spills.

Regardless, that fabric will get dirty and smelly eventually (think dead skin cells). No matter how clean you are.

[majewsky]

The fabric thing could actually be really nice if you can replace the fabric and that replacement part is actually available at a reasonable price (and maybe also in some color variety).